The gray wolf that crossed into Northern California from Oregon just after Christmas looks to be sticking around for a bit. The lone male wolf has traveled more than 800 miles from a pack in Northeastern Oregon and is the first known wild wolf in California since the last one was killed by trapper in 1924. Wednesday telemetry from a GPS collar put on the wolf last February still shows the 2½-year-old roaming Siskyou County, near the Oregon border. “He is still in the state,” says Jordan Traverso, spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Game.

The California Fish and Game Commission on Wednesday postponed a controversial decision on whether to afford gray wolves protection under the state's Endangered Species Act, giving itself another 90 days to consider the matter. After listening to a spirited 2 1/2 hours of public comment in an overflowing meeting room in Ventura, the five-member commission voted unanimously to take up the issue at its next meeting in June. The decision regarding listing was prompted by the arrival in late 2011 of a young male gray wolf in Northern California.

OR7, the peripatetic gray wolf who spent most of last year in California, has said goodbye to the Golden State -- at least for now. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported Wednesday that the young male crossed the state border into Oregon's Klamath County on Tuesday evening. Biologists and the public have followed the wolf's long journey from his home pack in northeastern Oregon with signals from his satellite tracking collar. He has wandered more than 3,000 miles since he left his pack in a thus far futile search for a mate and other wolves.

Federal authorities announced Friday that the geographically isolated Alexander Archipelago wolf of southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest may need protection under the Endangered Species Act to survive the impact of logging, hunting and trapping in its old-growth habitat. Populations of the rare subspecies of gray wolf are in steep decline in portions of the heavily logged region, where they den in the root systems of western hemlock and Sitka spruce and hunt black-tailed deer, which also rely on the ancient trees to shield them from harsh winters.

Reintroduction of the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park has boosted an important food source for the threatened grizzly bear, researchers have found in an example of how the return of a top predator can have far-reaching ecological effects. A study published this week in the Journal of Animal Ecology is essentially a tale of who eats what. When wolves returned to the park in 1995 after a 70-year absence, they preyed on elk herds that browsed on trees and shrubs. The elk population, which had exploded without the wolves, dropped.

A male Mexican gray wolf released into the wild last week in hopes of expanding the endangered species is doing well, Arizona Game and Fish Department officials say. The 4-year-old wolf set free in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is the first of its kind to be released in the last four years, officials said in a statement. Wildlife officials hope the wolf will replace the pack's breeding Bluestem alpha male, which was illegally killed last year. The Mexican wolf, called M1133, was released in time for breeding season after ensuring that the alpha female hadn't already paired with another male.

After reversing President Bush on a pack of environmental rules in its first month, the Obama administration let one of Bush's last-minute changes stand Friday: removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the Upper Midwest, Idaho and Montana. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, announcing the decision at a news conference, said the finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service under Bush was "a supportable one. . . . Scientists have concluded that recovery has occurred."

The arrival in California of the lone wolf OR7 serves as both a marker of one of the great successes of the Endangered Species Act and a reminder of how much California has changed since wolves last roamed within its borders, more than 80 years ago. It's been easy to cheer from afar the wolf's return from extinction in the lower 48 states. But OR7's border crossing from southern Oregon on Thursday puts Californians on notice that one day, the reintroduced gray wolf population is expected to at least partly reestablish itself in the state.

The reintroduction of the gray wolf into Yellowstone National Park and nearby portions of Idaho and Montana has been a major success, and the worst fears of ranchers have come to nothing. The wolves are not killing off cattle and sheep as ranchers insisted would happen. Livestock losses since the program began in 1995 are but a fraction of the predictions in the environmental impact statement upon which the program was based.

Rep. Wayne Owens (D-Utah) has joined with the conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife in sponsoring legislation that would implement the deadlocked federal plan to reintroduce the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park. The proposal deserves speedy congressional approval and should eliminate any further hesitation by the Department of the Interior in carrying out the wolf recovery plan in Yellowstone--as it actually is required to do now under the Endangered Species Act.

Reintroduction of the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park has boosted an important food source for the threatened grizzly bear, researchers have found in an example of how the return of a top predator can have far-reaching ecological effects. A study published this week in the Journal of Animal Ecology is essentially a tale of who eats what. When wolves returned to the park in 1995 after a 70-year absence, they preyed on elk herds that browsed on trees and shrubs. The elk population, which had exploded without the wolves, dropped.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the killing of a female Mexican gray wolf that had been denning with pups in New Mexico. The animal, known as F1108, was found in late June shot to death, authorities said. Her pups were assumed to be dead. The 6-year-old female was born in the wild, captured with her pack and placed in New Mexico's Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. She and a male were released in May and placed in a temporary pen in the Gila National Forest.

Times reporter Julie Cart will join L.A. Now Live at 9 a.m. Friday to discuss her exclusive story on the federal plan to remove endangered species protection for the gray wolf in the continental United States. The sweeping rule proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would eliminate protection for wolves 18 years after the government reestablished the predators in the West, where they had been hunted to extinction. Their reintroduction was a success, with the population growing to the thousands.

Federal authorities intend to remove endangered species protections for all gray wolves in the Lower 48 states, carving out an a exception for a small pocket of about 75 Mexican wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico, according to a draft document obtained by The Times. The sweeping rule by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would eliminate protection for wolves 18 years after the government reestablished the predators in the West, where they had been hunted to extinction. Their reintroduction was a success, with the population growing to the thousands.

The number of gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain region declined about 7% last year, the first significant population drop in the region since wolves were reintroduced in 1995. The decrease follows the removal of federal endangered species protections and the approval of wolf hunts in several Western states. “There's no surprise” in the numbers, said Mike Jimenez, wolf management and science coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The states are very carefully bringing the population down.” At the end of 2012, federal and state biologists counted 1,674 gray wolves in what is known as the northern Rocky Mountain distinct population segment, according to an annual report released Friday by the wildlife service.

A follower of Charles Manson accused of trying to smuggle a cellphone to the cult leader has a long history with Manson, officials said. Craig Carlisle Hammond, 63, goes by the name Gray Wolf, given to him by Manson. He has been a regular visitor of Manson's, the mastermind of one of the most notorious killing sprees in U.S. history - the Tate-La Bianca murders in Los Angeles. It's unclear whether Hammond knew Manson before he went to prison. PHOTOS: The Manson murders Hammond, 63, faces charges of possession of an illegal communication device, attempting to bring a cellphone into a prison and conspiracy, said Terry Thornton, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman.

Declaring the recovery of the gray wolf a success, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed the predator's status Tuesday from "endangered" to "threatened" in most of the United States. The change means that wildlife managers -- and in some cases the public -- will have more leeway to kill wolves that are menacing livestock and pets. They will also be allowed to try to chase wolves away by shooting rubber bullets and shells containing firecrackers.

Five inches of powdery snow covered the mountainside in western Montana as Ralph Thisted studied paw prints around an elk rib cage still stained dark with blood. The powder was too dry to hold prints well, and Thisted spent several minutes looking for a good example. Finally, he pointed at one depression the size of a man's fist. "That one looks like it may be one of the pups," Thisted said. "The adults are larger." How large? He formed his hands into a circle the size of a saucer.

King County prosecutors have filed charges against a follower of Charles Manson who was arrested Sunday at Corcoran State prison on suspicion of trying to smuggle a cellphone to the convicted mass murderer. Craig Carlisle Hammond, 63, is charged with possession of an illegal communication device, prosecutors said. Hammond, a retiree, was searched and subsequently arrested at 3:35 p.m. Sunday and taken to Kings County Jail, where he was released four hours later on $30,000 bail. He is due in court next month.

A follower of Charles Manson is due in court next month in Central California after allegedly trying to smuggle a cellphone to the cult leader. The alleged incident occurred Sunday at Corcoran State Prison, where Manson is being held. Craig Carlisle Hammond, 63, faces charges of possession of an illegal communication device, attempting to bring a cellphone into a prison and conspiracy, said Terry Thornton, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabiltation spokeswoman.